TV’s Midwife star: I chose caesarean to save my baby
CALL The Midwife star Helen George last night revealed she had a caesarean section delivery after suffering complications during her pregnancy.
The actress, whose daughter Wren was born in September, defended her decision but said many would not understand her choice.
Helen, who plays nurse Trixie Franklin in the hit BBC drama, told Radio Times: “Working on Call The Midwife means that lots of people tell you their horror stories about giving birth.
“I’m not against natural birth, I’m pro whatever you feel is right for you.
“Some people may not understand why I elected to have a C- section, but it was right for me at the time.
“It’s not because I’m ‘ too posh to push’, it’s about what I think my body is capable of.
“Not that a C- section is the easy way out. It’s a major operation.
Amazing
“I have a large scar on my stomach. You can’t exercise for a long time and you need help to pick up the baby.”
The pregnancy saw baby Wren arrive three weeks early.
Helen, 33, uploaded a photo to her Instagram page with the caption: “When your baby turns up early for her own baby shower.
“Welcome to the world little one. What an amazing day.”
But she revealed how she suffered from complications during her pregnancy and was diagnosed with a liver condition called ICP, which can cause still births.
She said: “I was rubbing my back against the stair carpet to scratch myself. Even my eyes were itching.
“It runs in my family – which is fortunate because I knew that I should go and get a blood test straight away.
“I chose to have a C- section. It coincided with the fact that I had to deliver her early, but even without that, I would have gone for an elective caesarean because of what I’d learnt on Call The Midwife.”
Helen, who is in a relationship with co- star Jack Ashton, told how the show’s writers could not build her pregnancy into the script because it “wasn’t a correct storyline to choose for the character”. The actress, who stars alongside Jennifer Kirby, Leonie Elliott and Charlotte Ritchie, had to take a “few episodes off” during filming because she was “too big”.
She said she did the Christmas special and the first four episodes of the new series “but after that I was too big. I was always carrying things or sitting behind a high desk to conceal my bump.
“My face and my boobs were getting bigger and bigger, it was ridiculous. That’s why they dressed me up as the pantomime cow in the Christmas show.”
The seventh series of Call The Midwife starts at 8pm on Sunday on BBC One. Read more in this week’s Radio Times.